Cable, satellite, and terrestrial broadcast service is received into a house through a main cable (or fiber-optic) line supplied from the cable service provider or from an antenna configured to receive content from the satellite or terrestrial broadcast service providers. The main cable line is typically routed through the walls of the house and into set-top boxes arranged to pass content from the service providers to one or more television sets. The content supplied by the service providers is often conditional access (CA) encrypted to substantially prevent unauthorized reception of the content.
The CA encrypted content is typically decrypted by CableCARD devices, which comprise separate plug-in cards that are inserted into the set-top boxes, or directly into some newer television sets. The CableCARD devices are also typically configured to copy protection (CP) encrypt the content prior to delivery to the set-top box or the television set to substantially prevent unauthorized reception and the content from the CableCARD and the set-top box or television set. In these instances, the set-top box or the television set is configured to decrypt the CP encrypted content.
Oftentimes, the main cable line is supplied into the house at a relatively long distance away from the television set(s). In addition, many households have a number of different television sets located in different rooms, thereby requiring that the main cable line be split and supplied through a number of walls to the different rooms. As such, a relatively large amount of cabling is typically required in order to supply the television sets with the content supplied over the main cable line. For existing construction, as well as new construction houses, the costs and labor associated with running the cabling inside the walls are relatively high because running the cabling typically requires installers to drill holes through walls, ceilings, studs, and floors and to patch up the holes once the cabling has been run.
A less expensive option would be to run the cabling on the outside of the walls. This option, however, is undesirable because it is aesthetically unpleasant and poses a hazard to those walking past the cabling.